Post by Radrook Admin on Oct 28, 2021 16:54:07 GMT -5
Show, don't tell
The following video provides many specific examples of descriptions. Very helpful advice. Don't tell us that the person was angry, show us his anger by describing his behavior. Don't tell the reader that the girl is attractive, describe her and let us see her attractiveness in our mind's eye. Don't tell us the person was terrified. Show us his actions which indicate his terrified metal state.
Don't tell us that the man was in a great hurry. Show us the man behaving in a hurried fashion. Running, huffing puffing, maybe fiddling with his tie desperately in order to be on time. In short, paint a picture of what is going on. Joe was a rude fellow? Really? In what way? Show him interacting with people in a boorish manner.
Unfortunately, such feedback is something you will never get at the Story Star forum, because all advice is deemed offensive to the writer. So you see many writers there repeating the same mistake of telling but not showing over ad over and getting awesome ratings. Any attempt to help a writer by offering some advice on how to improve writing will be met with warnings of possibly getting banned. Very disappointing atmosphere.
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.